Produce, and particularly leafy vegetables such as lettuce, for example, not only must be washed in order to remove dirt and dust prior to packaging or shipment, but preferably must be dried to a certain extent in order to prevent rapid deterioration of fresh appearance as well as to retard the production of mold, either of which makes the product have less appeal to a purchaser. Also, produce is handled typically in packing stations in very large quantities, making it advisable that continuous drying in a flow-through manner be accomplished bringing the relatively freshly picked and washed produce into the apparatus and the dried product to a final packing station.
To date, known drying of large quantities of produce, such as leafy vegetables, has been by techniques requiring relatively cumbersome techniques for emptying the drying container after each batch.